California Screaming.

* Written by Doug Guinan * Published by Simon and Schuster, $23

I generally avoid any novel that is described by its publisher as "madcap," "outrageous," or a "romp." It usually turns Out to be anything but--silly, stupid, funny only to its creator) invariably a first- (and last-) time novelist. Writing this kind of fiction well requires pitch-perfect style and timing and wit. These qualities are very rare, and you have to be born with them, like Noel Coward.

So you can imagine my surprise to come across two new "romp" novels--both gay, both set in West Hollywood, Calif., both featuring a lead character who drives a Miata--and to discover they weren't bad. In fact, One is pretty good. And the other is very good.

Let's begin with Misadventures in. the (213) by Dennis Hensley. If I were to recount the plot--something involving an entry-level sitcom star named Dandy Rio and her best friend from high school, a gay ex-cruise director and would-be screenwriter--you probably would stop reading right here, so let me say that the great pleasure of this book comes from its superior comic writing. Out of B-list celebrities and tidbits from Entertainment Tonight, Hensley has constructed a hilarious riff that doesn't slow down for a second. True, Misadventures is a cartoon rather than a novel, but it's a very sharp, very funny cartoon.

Now for a very sharp, very funny novel--that's our second romp book, titled, rather unfortunately, California Screaming. Written by Doug Guinan, it concerns the romance between Kevin, the handsomest man in West Hollywood, and Brad Sherwood, a gay entertainment mogul who could be a stand-in for David Geffen or Sandy Gallin. Guinan's considerable achievement is to make these men and their relationship absolutely believable. You keep thinking, Yes, this is exactly the way it would happen. Those are the clothes they would wear, that is the furniture they would own, that is the kind of sex they would have. As a vicarious thrill for those of us who are neither rich nor hot, this book is hard to top.

It's also a brilliant satirical snapshot of gay Los Angeles as the century draws to a close. All the fads, fashions, and personality types are here, and each is hilariously put in its place. California Screaming is a romp, all right, but it's a lot more than that. The great West Hollywood novel? Maybe. It certainly is a contender.

Plunket is the author of My Search for Warren Harding and Love Junkie.